KIEV, March 26. /TASS/. Ukraine has signed a deal with the Canadian Export Agency for a loan of 200 million Canadian dollars ($160 million), the Ukrainian Finance Ministry’s press service said on Thursday.

The loan is for a period of 5 years with an annual rate of 1.4%. "The funds for the loan will be received on March 31, 2015," the press service said.

The loan is envisaged in Ukraine’s state budget for 2015, the press service noted.

Ukraine intends to return to financial markets in 2017 after restructuring its sovereign debt, the country’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius told French Les Echos daily in an interview published on Thursday.

"The Ukrainian government chose the Lazard bank as an advisor in talks on restructuring its sovereign debt," Abromavicius said. "As soon as talks with IMF [International Monetary Fund] on financial aid are completed, Ukraine will launch negotiations with its creditors on debt restructuring. Our aim is to return to financial markets in 2017," the economy minister added.

Abromavicius also touched upon the issue of the current situation in the Ukrainian economy. Earlier this week, Moody’s agency has downgraded Ukraine’s long-term issuer and government debt rating to Ca from Caa3 with a negative outlook.

"Everyone knows that Ukraine is going through the period of economic difficulties. Apart from that, it is in the complicated military situation, as ceasefire is still unstable. It lost a part of its territory and its industries," Abromavicius said.

The minister said that economic growth in Ukraine will fall by 5.5% in 2015, after a decline by 6.9% over the last year. Along with that, inflation will reach around 30%, he added.